Chapter 1
It was supposed to be a normal Friday night with Christopher, the two watching movies. Eddie doesn’t work on Friday and Saturday solely for the reason that he spends the entire time with Chris on those days. The rest of the week he spends working at his tattoo shop.
He gets a phone call while they’re in the middle of the newest avengers movie and ignores it, not wanting to disturb his night with his son but when the phone keeps ringing constantly, he answers it, not even bothering to see who was calling.
“Hello?” He answers, annoyance clear in his tone as he gets up off the couch mouthing to Chris that he would be right back and walking into the kitchen.
There was a moment of silence on the other side of the phone and Eddie contemplates hanging up before a voice speaks. “Eddie?” And Eddie remembers that voice.
“Ana?” He questions, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. He hadn’t heard from her in over two years, why in the world would she be calling him now.
Ana chuckles softly. “Yeah, it’s me. Listen, could we meet up tomorrow?” She asks him.
Eddie sighs heavily. “No. You know Saturdays are my day with Christopher.” He tells her.
And of course, she knows he had started that tradition while they were dating. “I know, and I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. I need to talk to you about something and I don’t exactly want to do it over the phone.” She says and Eddie can hear the hint of urgency in her voice.
“I guess we can meet up for coffee in the morning. I want to go into the shop for a few minutes anyway.” Eddie sighs and runs a hand through his hair. The last thing he wanted to do was see Ana. He had broken up with her and hadn’t given her much of a reason, he figured she’d hate him.
Before either of the adults could say anything else, Eddie heard a small voice ring through the phone. “Mommy!”
“Alright, I’ll text you in the morning, I’ve got to go.” Ana rushes and hangs up the phone, leaving Eddie even more confused. He just brushes it off and goes to finish his movie night with his son.
The rest of the night Eddie couldn’t help but wonder what Ana wanted to talk about so badly and why it was so important that she couldn’t just tell him over the phone. He tried not to worry about it, but he did.
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The next morning Eddie finds himself in a coffee shop not far from his Tia Pepa’s home, Ana agrees to meet him there since it was close to her anyways. So, after dropping Chris off at Pepa’s he headed to the coffee shop.
Ana was already there, sitting at a table waiting for him, a nervous look on her face as he approached the table. She stood and wrapped her arms around him in a brief hug before sitting back down, hands immediately going to her cup of coffee, as if to have something to do with her hands.
“Do you want any coffee?” She asks him.
Eddie shakes his head and sits down across from her, resting his hands on the table. “No.” He hums and watches her closely. She hadn’t changed much since the last time he had seen her. “So, what was so important that you couldn’t talk to me about it over the phone?” He cuts right to the chase, wanting to put his mind at ease.
Ana lets out a nervous laugh and runs a hand through her curls. “I’m going to tell you something, but you can’t be mad, okay?” She asks and Eddie just nods, not saying anything. He was all sorts of confused now, why would he be mad? “I have a daughter, her name is Isabel, we call her Bell for short.”
Eddie furrows his eyebrows in confusion. She has a daughter. Why was that so important to tell Eddie, unless? “Ana, why are you telling me this?” He practically demands, moving his hands to rest in his lap.
The woman lets out another nervous chuckle before averting her gaze down to the table. Eddie was getting suspicious, she was acting weird, and he wanted to know why. Before he could ask her again, she spoke up. “Because she’s yours Eddie.” She says it so soft that Eddie almost doesn’t hear it.
His eyes nearly bug out of his head. “Excuse me? Can you repeat what you just said?” Eddie says, wanting to make sure he had heard the woman correctly.
“You heard me, Edmundo.” She mumbles. “I said, It was important for me to tell you because she’s yours.”
“Ana, I haven’t seen you in years!” Eddie exclaims. “So that means she’s what, two years old?” He asks, standing up from his seat, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He wanted to be in shock, but he was just irritated.
Ana still doesn’t look at Eddie, her gaze fixed on the table below. “She’s two.” She confirms and Eddie purses his lips, stopping his movements. “And you’re mad.” She states and Eddie barks out an angry laugh.
“Of course I’m mad!” He shouts, not caring that he was making a scene in the coffee shop. “I have a two-year-old daughter that I didn’t know about and all of a sudden you tell me now?” He asks.
Ana is silent for a few moments and Eddie’s about to storm off before she speaks again. “I didn’t think you’d want her.” And that sentence pissed Eddie off to the core.
“Why would you even think that?” He asks. Eddie knew there were people staring but he didn’t really care, he wouldn’t until someone came to tell him to leave for making a scene. “I deserved to know about her.” He lowers his voice.
“And that’s why I’m telling you now.” Ana says, shrugging her shoulders, finally looking up at Eddie. There were tears in her eyes. “I felt guilty the whole time for not telling you, but you were so into your work I didn’t think you’d have time for her.” She said truthfully and that made Eddie scoff.
“I can’t believe you.” He says and points a finger at her. “I made time for Chris, I still do. I would’ve made time for her.” He tells her, shaking his head. He was beyond angry at this point. He had a daughter that he didn’t know all because Ana thought he wouldn’t want her, thought he wouldn’t make time for her.
“If you want to see her, you have my number.” This is the last thing Ana says before she stands up and walks out of the coffee shop, leaving Eddie standing there with wide eyes. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. He woke up knowing he just had one kid and he’ll be going to sleep tonight with the fact that he has two on his mind.